When the Bella Twins straight up buried their fellow female employees on commentary it was the most awful thing ever, right? So, AJ Lee did pretty much the exact same thing tonight, and she was lauded. Rightly so, I might add. Maybe the difference is in the messenger? I don't know if holding one performer on a plateau over others is quite fair, but human nature seeps in, and sometimes, those preconceived biases find a way to be right, even if accidentally. Authorial intent makes all the difference in the world.
The Bella Twins came back to WWE to be part of a reality show based on backstage dealings. The E! Network is not known for programs with characterization, although I understand watching Total Divas shows the twins in a whole new sympathetic light, especially this past week. Still, crossing the border from E! to the Universal family of networks (and Ion Television, which I hear is positively entertaining), the Bellas are stripped of their soul, their fiber. So when they call everyone in the locker room names, they are perpetuating the cattiness that has exemplified them since they were inviting Kharma to wreck their day. Kharma, there's a name. Wish she'd come on back, but as I understand, that decision ain't on her. But I digress.
When Lee is putting down her peers, however, she is not doing so as an empty husk meant to shell out what might appear to the naked eye as exploitation. Again, I haven't watched a minute of Total Divas; you'd have to consult with Trey if the content is as unsatisfying as the commercials make it out to be. AJ Lee is a WWE superstar, and she's made no bones about it. Every move she's made since latching onto Daniel Bryan 20 months ago has been to get ahead in a company where women rarely ever did. Whether it was managerial, administrative, or combative as she is now as Divas Champion, Lee's bona fides speak for themselves, preferably with the "HASHTAG AJ ALL LOL" nonsense from the announcers put squarely on mute.
So similar words from the Bella Twins are met with "shut up" groans, but are lauded as the new pipe bomb from Lee. This double standard exists justifiably. Hypocrisy doesn't live in this house. Granted, Lee kept it heelish enough so that people were meant to boo her; you don't imply any number of seven women got to where they were because of what they put in their mouth and come out looking as if you're the good guy. Well, in a sane world, you don't. Remove the emphasis on that one word, and we're in a surreal world, not unlike the one existing where John Cena's dual chants are currency, where one group of fans cheers wildly for the women they see every Sunday night and the other is all in for the "wrestler" of the group.
I've been burned too many times by the Divas of Destruction or Beth Phoenix vs. Mickie James going nowhere or any other stillborn attempt at letting women be more than "Divas" to fully put my weight behind supporting this as the watershed moment for women's wrestling in WWE. That being said, Lee's fire, passion, and eloquence felt more organic than anything else they've done with their female performers, well, ever. On a show where the Passion of the Punk chewed up major real estate and where the continued assassination of Daniel Bryan at the hands of the Corporate Cowards is the major story, maybe real change is coming on the horizon.
Still, hearing the same old catty comments towards other women in WWE come from a fully actualized character felt like a step in the right direction. Let AJ Lee be the catalyst for the women in WWE to burn their label of "Diva" and take on the mantel of "Superstar" alongside the men who get that title by birthright. If that goal takes Lee sounding closely similar to the Bellas for one night, only adding some gravitas and earnestness behind it, well, then so be it.
The Bella Twins came back to WWE to be part of a reality show based on backstage dealings. The E! Network is not known for programs with characterization, although I understand watching Total Divas shows the twins in a whole new sympathetic light, especially this past week. Still, crossing the border from E! to the Universal family of networks (and Ion Television, which I hear is positively entertaining), the Bellas are stripped of their soul, their fiber. So when they call everyone in the locker room names, they are perpetuating the cattiness that has exemplified them since they were inviting Kharma to wreck their day. Kharma, there's a name. Wish she'd come on back, but as I understand, that decision ain't on her. But I digress.
When Lee is putting down her peers, however, she is not doing so as an empty husk meant to shell out what might appear to the naked eye as exploitation. Again, I haven't watched a minute of Total Divas; you'd have to consult with Trey if the content is as unsatisfying as the commercials make it out to be. AJ Lee is a WWE superstar, and she's made no bones about it. Every move she's made since latching onto Daniel Bryan 20 months ago has been to get ahead in a company where women rarely ever did. Whether it was managerial, administrative, or combative as she is now as Divas Champion, Lee's bona fides speak for themselves, preferably with the "HASHTAG AJ ALL LOL" nonsense from the announcers put squarely on mute.
So similar words from the Bella Twins are met with "shut up" groans, but are lauded as the new pipe bomb from Lee. This double standard exists justifiably. Hypocrisy doesn't live in this house. Granted, Lee kept it heelish enough so that people were meant to boo her; you don't imply any number of seven women got to where they were because of what they put in their mouth and come out looking as if you're the good guy. Well, in a sane world, you don't. Remove the emphasis on that one word, and we're in a surreal world, not unlike the one existing where John Cena's dual chants are currency, where one group of fans cheers wildly for the women they see every Sunday night and the other is all in for the "wrestler" of the group.
I've been burned too many times by the Divas of Destruction or Beth Phoenix vs. Mickie James going nowhere or any other stillborn attempt at letting women be more than "Divas" to fully put my weight behind supporting this as the watershed moment for women's wrestling in WWE. That being said, Lee's fire, passion, and eloquence felt more organic than anything else they've done with their female performers, well, ever. On a show where the Passion of the Punk chewed up major real estate and where the continued assassination of Daniel Bryan at the hands of the Corporate Cowards is the major story, maybe real change is coming on the horizon.
Still, hearing the same old catty comments towards other women in WWE come from a fully actualized character felt like a step in the right direction. Let AJ Lee be the catalyst for the women in WWE to burn their label of "Diva" and take on the mantel of "Superstar" alongside the men who get that title by birthright. If that goal takes Lee sounding closely similar to the Bellas for one night, only adding some gravitas and earnestness behind it, well, then so be it.
